Influence peddling: Romanian ANAF's former chief sentenced to 6 years in jail

A former president (2009-2012) of the Romanian National Fiscal Administration Agency – ANAF, Sorin Blejnar, was sentenced on Thursday to 6 years in jail by a Bucharest court for influence peddling. The decision and the sentence can be appealed.

This is not the first time the former chief of ANAF is being sentenced to certain years of imprisonment since he had already received a 5-year jail term (2016) in another case, with the sentence also in appeal. This time, Blejnar was accused by prosecutors of influence peddling because he demanded that a Romanian businessman gave him RON 12 million in order to accept an IT contract with ANAF.

Romania Insider wrote that "The National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) sent Blejnar to court in 2016 for influence peddling. The case is related to a public procurement procedure carried out by ANAF in 2011, in which Blejnar apparently agreed with a private investor to get 20% of the value of a contract that ANAF was going to award. To get the money, the former ANAF head had to make sure the investor’s company would get the respective contract. Blejnar thus received RON 12.5 million (EUR 2.68 million) from this deal.".... / IBNA